


The Azure Secret

by one_hudre



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Thieves, F/F, F/M, Famous magician Kaito, Kaito is genderfluid, Kaitou KID - Freeform, M/M, Night Baron, Other pairings to be added, Pandora - Freeform, Phantom Lady I & II, Rating May Change, Shinichi and Conan are different people, The Black Organisation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-02 01:36:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14533854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/one_hudre/pseuds/one_hudre
Summary: Kudo Conan was thirteen when he was killed by the Black Organisation.Five years later, Kudo Shinichi is working with a team of thieves to bring the mysterious syndicate to justice; racing against time, they struggle to find the mysterious Pandora before the Organisation gets its hands on it.





	1. The Azure Dress, and what followed

**Author's Note:**

> Howdy! Welcome to The Azure Secret, and please enjoy the story!
> 
> Just a bit of background info: the Black Organisation and the Magic Kaito organisation are the same. The apotoxin doesn't shrink anyone, just kills. Ai is a child prodigy who created it when she was ten.

The dress was a woman’s wet dream: a gorgeous, azure floor-length piece adorned by blue glass jewels in a pattern at the waist and around the neckline, with a deep slit that reached mid-thigh. It hugged every curve and left nothing to the imagination in the best way a man could imagine.

 

Shinichi supposed the knowledge that the one wearing said piece was male himself could make the unsuspecting admirer do a double take, but the disguise was perfect and there really was no way to tell that it was not a woman in the dress. The leg revealed by the deep slit was athletic and smooth, and looking at the low neckline there was no way to tell that the breasts were entirely fake. Shinichi really didn’t want to know what Kaito had had to do to conceal his crotch in the extremely tight dress.

 

The wig the thief was wearing was long and dark, a waterfall of perfect curls reaching the small of his back and adorned only by a single hairpin. The contact lenses he was wearing coloured his eyes a deep grey. The heels were impossibly high to Shinichi’s eyes, but realistically he could say they were four-and-a-half inch stilettos. He was pretty sure you could kill someone with the sharp heel.

 

She was the centre of all attention tonight, something Kaito rarely did with his disguises. With the heels, she easily towered over all but the tallest people in the room at the comfortable height of 6’2”, and the males around her were taking advantage of the height difference to ogle the magnificent (so very fake) breasts that were half revealed by the dress.

 

19:59. 19:59.01. 19:59.02. She started to walk towards the centre of the room, the entourage of ogling men and a few women following her every step. The click of the razor-sharp heels Kaito wore marked every second that passed in a perfectly timed display. Shinichi couldn’t help but think of a movie scene where every sound but the clicking of heels was muted as danger approached.

 

19:59.59.

 

20:00.00.

 

The dress billowed around Kaito as she spun thrice in the centre of the room. Dramatic lighting had clicked on the moment she started to spin, the rest of the room plunged into darkness.

 

“ _Ladies and gentlemen!_ ” She announced in English as she came to a stop. The monocle of Kaitou Kid was now attached to her right eye and Kaitou Kid’s cape billowed in an unseen wind behind her. “ _Thank you for inviting me tonight. It’s an honour to meet you, Satoshi-san_ ,” she nodded to one of the men who’d previously been part of her entourage. The man flushed a bright red; whether it was in embarrassment or anger at being deceived, Shinichi couldn’t tell.

 

“ _But I’m afraid I’ll have to cut this meeting short. Happy birthday!_ ” and so saying, she disappeared in a cloud of pink smoke. Shinichi turned his eyes to the piece on display tonight, a blue topaz by the name of _Blue Delirium_. True to form, another burst of smoke erupted and blew away to reveal the now white-clad thief perched on the case, topaz on hand and top hat obscuring his eyes. He was still wearing the wig and contacts, and the curve of his fake breasts was very visible under his white jacket.

 

_Tease_ , Shinichi thought fondly. The taskforce and everybody else at the party would now spend the next few days wondering if Kid was a woman after all.

 

“ _I’ll be taking my leave, then. Thank you for the gift!_ ” Kid stood up on the case and in the same fluid motion rose towards the ceiling. The guards around the gem attempted to dogpile the phantom thief before he was too high to reach, but ended up glued together and wrapped in a giant bow as the thief disappeared from sight.

 

Shinichi took off towards the roof. The corridors were full of running policemen who seemed to have no idea where they were going, and Shinichi had to rely on some acrobatics to get to the roof as fast as possible. After climbing seven flights of stairs and deftly sidestepping the traps that had been set out for the police who’d chase the thief he burst through the door and came to the roof. Steps behind him announced the impending presence of the police, and he didn’t have much time.

 

A swift burst of smoke to mask his transformation and the Night Baron stood facing the white phantom thief. The police piled out of the single door just as the two thieves took flight from the rooftop.

 

***

 

“So?” Ai asked from her workspace as the two thieves descended into the underground science laboratory. She was writing down observations as a rat squirmed in a cage in front of her, and Shinichi had to turn away as the rat’s eyes started to bleed.

 

“No luck. Wanna check these out?” Kaito handed her the _Blue Delirium_ and _Winter Frost_ , Shinichi’s target for the night. She took them without looking and locked them in a drawer before turning to face them. The unruly bangs that framed her face were signed, but considering there was no smell of burnt hair in the air it must’ve happened earlier that day.

 

“You can see that the latest antidote isn’t working,” she gestured to the now dead rat with a slight grimace. “I’m starting to think that this is going to take longer than I anticipated.”

 

Shinichi grimaced. As long as the organisation had the poison, there was a risk. With how fast-acting it was, the window of opportunity to administer any sort of antidote was short, but with the impressive rate of disappearances the organisation left in its wake they couldn’t take the risk. Ai had explained that she could make fake teeth similar to the cyanide teeth the organisation put in their grunts’ mouths that would contain the antidote, and they could simply chomp down on it if they were ever dosed with the apotoxin.

 

But that was no use as long as they didn’t have the antidote. Ai had started to develop in three years ago, but there was little progress made. Some antidotes worked for up to an hour until they were burned out of the body and the apotoxin took effect again. Others were resounding failures, such as the rat lying dead on Ai’s desk at the moment.

 

“Hey, let’s not get all pessimistic again. Shinichi darling, go get Aoko and Chikage, I heard something interesting at the heist tonight. Sounded like something that’d be right up their alley,” Kaito directed. “Ai, do you still have those skin colourants? I’m thinking something different for tomorrow’s show.”

 

Shinichi took the stairs again, leaving the two alone. Ai made a pretence of getting the required items even as she stared at Kaito. “How bad is it? You know he’ll hear about it soon enough.”

 

“There was a sniper inside the party tonight. I had Jii-chan take care of her, but they’re getting more blatant by the day.” The grimace crept through his poker face to settle on his face. “I don’t like it. They’re getting desperate. One of these days there’s gonna be fatalities, and I don’t wanna imagine the body count if they use collateral against me. I don’t know if Kid’s a safe persona to use anymore.”

 

“You thinking of joining Shinichi? I don’t know if the world can take two Night Barons, it’s barely coping with the one and you as it is.” The corners of her mouth lifted, but soon they were down again. “Did you get the sniper’s name?”

 

“Rosé. Brunette, maybe 5’6” from what I could see, olive skin. Mid-thirties. Really nasty gash on her left ear, too. Looked old,” Kaito described her. Ai nodded along and drew a piece of paper from the pile on her desk. Kaito eyed the large chemical stain on it but decided it wasn’t dangerous when Ai casually leaned her forearm on it as she drew.

 

Ai sketched for a minute and then lifted her drawing. Kaito nodded immediately; the drawing was a perfect picture of the woman Jii had taken care of.

 

“She wasn’t codenamed back when I knew her in the organisation, but that scar’s rather distinctive. She had ambitions to be the best sniper in the world. I remember she had a really big sweet tooth, she was always sucking on a lollipop or something other. She always offered me one as well.” Ai had a cryptic smile on her face. “I rather liked her for it, too. She was one of the people who treated me like a kid, albeit an intelligent one.”

 

“You could talk to her,” Kaito offered.

 

“And risk her giving me away if she escapes? No thanks. Besides,” and here she eyed him speculatively, “aren’t you going to give her to Black-san? I’m sure the FBI will have a lot to talk about with her,” she stated dryly.

 

“We could’ve made time, y’know. And I’m sure the FBI would let you talk to her as well, if we asked. They sorta owe use, imoto.”

 

“That they do,” she agreed. Footsteps in the stairwell drew her attention, and they watched in silence as Shinichi, Aoko and Chikage filed into the room.

 

Judging by the yoga pants and loose t-shirts the women were wearing they’d been having another sparring bout in the backyard. A headlamp sat askew on Aoko’s head, and both women were sweaty and dirty. Kaito would bet anything that they’d been practising escape techniques again. Their knees and elbow were bruised and scraped, and Aoko’s ponytail was halfway loose, whereas Chikage’s short curls were still neatly pinned down.

 

“What’s this about, then? Shinichi said you’d heard something we’d need to know,” Aoko asked while redoing her unruly ponytail. Chikage raised her eyebrows in support of the question.

 

“You’d never believe how much men will tell you when they’re eye-level with a nice set of breasts,” Kaito cackled. Both women snorted derisively. “Anyway, Satoshi-san was quite talkative. He bragged quite a bit about the Blue Delirium and his exclusive collection of rare gems; apparently he has some pretty big peridots, sapphires and diamonds. Blood diamonds, from what I could gather, and he was rather blaze about it too.” Kaito sniffed. A man who could brag about the size and quality of his gems while knowing full well they were the product of war and conflict was no man.

 

“So you want the Phantom Lady to take an interest in his collection? It’d be rather suspect when Kid just stole his prized topaz too,” Aoko told him. She was looking rather sceptic; there had yet to be something they couldn’t have covered in the morning, and they’d been in the middle of the obstacle course when Shinichi had interrupted their training.

 

“No.” Aoko raised an impatient eyebrow and cocked her head. “There is a sapphire he wants for his collection, the Star of Eve. It’s got a complicated past, with lots of disasters. It’s also been recut. Sounds like a candidate, right?”

 

The women nodded while Ai looked to be deep in thought. Shinichi suppressed a yawn, trying to fight off the exhaustion that was weighting down on his bones.

 

“So you want the Phantom Lady to take this one? Why not Kid?” Chikage asked the obvious. Kid was the one who went after the big gems with showy pasts. Smaller, less infamous gems were handled by the Phantom Lady and the Night Baron, and they left replicas to hide the fact there had ever even been a crime.

 

“There was a sniper inside the heist this time. If Jii hadn’t taken care of her, I’ll bet anything she would’ve shot at the crowd to get to me. They’ve been trying to use collateral damage against me for the past five heists. It’s just safer if you guys take care of it instead,” he explained.

 

The women gave him worried looks and Shinichi eyed him with a look that promised he’d be taking the couch unless he explained the _miscommunication_ properly. The crows had been getting more and more desperate as they’d tried and failed to take Kid out of the equation, and no one doubted for a moment that they wouldn’t resort to taking potshots at the crowds to get to the phantom thief.

 

“Okay. Any details yet?” Aoko asked. The lab was cool, and she pulled her arms inside her shirt to stay warm. Ai snickered at the straitjacket look.

 

“I didn’t have time to do research yet, but I think there’ll be a lot. It’s apparently on display in Spain.” A thoughtful look came over the three thieves as they started to ponder the ramifications of that. Kaito and Chikage pulled Aoko with them as they went off to plan, and Kaito shot an apologetic look at Shinichi before he followed the women up the stairs.

 

“It looks like it’s definitely your bedtime, detective,” Ai observed dryly as Shinichi suppressed another yawn. It wasn’t yet eleven o’clock, and Shinichi felt like he could collapse into bed and sleep straight through the next day. Looked like Kaito might make it into their bed tonight, if for nothing else but the fact Shinichi would be already asleep when he came back from planning with his mother and friend.

 

“It’s just all the recon I had to do on top all the shows. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in _weeks_ ,” the detective complained. Ai just snorted and pointed in the direction of the stairs with a half-lidded look. “Goodnight.”

 

“Remember to remove your makeup!” Ai called after him as he, too, started to climb the stairs, but it sounded distracted. She was probably already engrossed in the results of her latest experiment.

 

And Shinichi groaned as he thought of the layers of makeup still coating his face. Why had he thought that going disguised as a woman was a good idea, again?

 

***

 

In the morning, everything looked just a bit bleaker. A fog had settled over the Kuroba mansion, and the sun was only peeking behind the cloud cover, leaving everything white and grey. Aoko and Chikage continued right where they’d let off last night, filling the backyard with thumps, shouts and bursts of laughter. Shinichi followed their routine from the kitchen: all the bouts of hand-to-hand, acrobatic exercises, running and taking advantage of the obstacle course were random to his eyes.

 

Aoko had connected her phone to the stereo system they’d dragged to the covered porch, and music filled the yard as the two women fought. Aoko had grabbed a nearby rake that she used as a makeshift staff, and Chikage had only her hands. It looked like the older woman was winning.

 

Kaito walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of tea from the pot Jii had left earlier. His eyes were glued to the screen of his tablet, and his hair was only half-tamed. There was something about the way he walked that caught Shinichi’s eye from where he was still gazing out of the windows, and he turned to observe his boyfriend.

 

Kaito sat down with his cup and took a biscuit from the plate on the table, ignoring Shinichi’s reproachful look as he bit into the sugar-coated treat. Shinichi huffed and pushed the fruit plate towards Kaito, who took a slice of slippery pear with delight and licked his fingers clean after devouring it. The flick of his wrist was even more elegant than usual.

 

“Practicing?”

 

“Nah. Just felt like a feminine day,” Kaito answered, but didn’t look up from her reading. “Should I go with the turkey trick? I feel like it’s getting old.”

 

“I think it’s good to go. They haven’t figured it out yet, they love it,” Shinichi reassured her. Kaito looked up to give him a grateful smile and then went back to compiling the list of tricks she wanted for tonight. Shinichi pulled his phone out and started to look through the news.

 

Yup, the heist had once again made headlines. The picture of Kaito’s Michiko Haneda persona in Kid’s cape and monocle was dominating many a front page, and the speculation about Kid’s gender went a bit too far in Shinichi’s opinion. The things some rags said about his partner… they had no decency.

 

The fact that the real Michiko Haneda had been discovered in her walk-in closet, sleeping soundly, warranted all of a sentence of text. Shinichi snorted.

 

Around noon Haibara unearthed herself from the lab and trudged off to sleep after Shinichi forced some tea and a sandwich down her throat. Kaito had disappeared with her group of dancers, Aoko and Jii to go through the night’s performance list and do a quick run-through, so Shinichi was left to wander the mansion in search of something to do. Chikage had gone with Kaito’s group, but knowing her, she’d disappear at some point and go shopping in town, and Hakase was in his lab designing new gadgets; Shinichi had no one to entertain himself with, and he felt too restless to read.

 

Before he could work himself into a pacing mess, the phone he’d left in the kitchen rang. Shinichi, who’d been pacing the hallways, hurried to answer, clipping his shoulder on two doorways. The caller ID pronounced that Hattori was the one to relieve him of his boredom. Shinichi almost dropped the phone in his hurry to answer.

 

“Hey Hattori, what’s going on? Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

 

“Nah… Hey, do you think I could visit sometime? I’ve got some news on our _mutual friends_ ,” Hattori told him. Shinichi looked at the family calendar hanging on the kitchen wall: Kaito had a show today and next Friday, Hakase had arranged for an inter-organisational meeting for Wednesday, and there were four different heists scheduled for the next three weeks.

 

“How long do you think you’ll stay? Kaito’s still got one show next Friday and that’s gonna be a number, but you could come tomorrow if you can arrange it.” Shinichi was pretty sure that the other detective had already told his university he’d be taking a leave for a few days and not to expect him.

 

“I was thinking a few days. I’ll take the train there tomorrow, then. What’s up with y’all? Heard there was a Kid heist last night,” Hattori inquired cheekily. Shinichi smiled a bit at his tone as he wandered into the living room.

 

“The usual… I didn’t go, actually, but I did watch the news.” Or he wouldn’t admit to it over the phone, at least. “Aoko and Chikage are all about their latest number. You know how Kaito has those dancers at her shows that dance in the air and underwater? They wanted to go all Hunger Games on them and make those flaming clothes that Katniss and Peeta have, and now they’re bothering Ai and the Hakase about it. They wanna combine it with a fire breathing trick. It sounds like a fire hazard to me but they’re all set on it,” he told Hattori. “Kaito’s sold. She wants to hold a whole show in flaming clothes.”

 

“I’d watch it,” Hattori, the traitor, chortled.

 

“Hmph. Whatever. What train are you gonna take? I’ll come get you from the station.”

 

“I was thinking the 09:25 am one. It’s there after noon, I think maybe twenty past. I’ll test you the exact time,” Hattori promised. Shinichi was momentarily distracted as the Hakase knocked on the doorframe. He turned to look at the professor from where he was perched in an armchair. Agase gestured towards his lab, and Shinichi nodded to show his understanding.

 

“Okay. Hey, I gotta dash, but I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye!” Agase was already walking towards the stairs to the lab, and Shinichi hurried to catch up. Heiji’s bye went unheard as he closed call.

 

Only once he was in the stairwell did he remember that he was supposed to chew Kaito out for not telling him about the sniper. Damn the thief for leaving before Shinichi had finished his morning coffee.


	2. A Fishy Wake-up Call, and what followed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ai Haibara, the cool and clever scientist. Too bad her IQ doesn't stop the depressing thoughts of failure and quench the need for human contant.
> 
> In other words, here, have some Ai angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm horribly sorry about the wait. I got into Attack on Titan, and I'm really bad at juggling two fandoms at once. Once I got back into Conan, inspiration was hiding under a damn heavy rock, but I finally got this written.
> 
> (On a side note, I originally wrote a magic show chapter, but it was crapped after I read it through and realised it was more like a Cirque du Soleil performance centered around two magicians than an actual stage magic show.)
> 
> (Also, new username! Changed it to match my tumblr, but please don't visit. It's literally one rant and some likes and shares.)
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter!

“A-Aoko!”

 

“Sorry, sorry! But you really need to wake up, Bakaito, the professor’s got news!” Aoko folded up the canvas painting of a fish she’d used to get the bleary magician awake and gave Shinichi an apologetic smile. The detective was nursing a new shiner courtesy of his flailing partner, and his ribs felt sore after Kaito had squeezed him like a rag doll in fear.

 

“What sorta news warrants you waking me up with f- that!” Kaito pointed an accusing finger at the rolled-up canvas.

 

“Something about Snake, he said,” Kaito perked up. “Jii said he and James-san got talking yesterday after he handed Rosé over and that the feds were preparing another strike against the organisation soon and apparently the PSB is pissy that they’re acting like it’s their country. So then the professor started a video conference with James-san and Kazami-san and now they need you, because they’re idiots. Up!” Aoko smacked Kaito on the shoulder with the rolled-up painting and the magician retaliated by flipping her shirt up.

 

To reveal a fish-patterned bra.

 

Seemed like Aoko had come prepared. Shinichi sighed as Kaito tangled herself around her boyfriend like an octopus, hiding her face in the crook of his neck.

 

“You should go ahead, Aoko, I’ll take care of this one. We’ll be there in five minutes,” Shinichi promised while untangling his partner’s vice-like limbs from around his person. Kaito resolutely kept her head pressed into his neck until Aoko was out the door.

 

They dressed in silence, throwing on the first things that were reasonably clean, and then headed to the professor’s office, detouring through the kitchen to grab an apple for Shinichi and a pear for Kaito.  Kaito was clingy after the fish scares and squeezed Shinichi’s arm to her body, and Shinichi did his best to reassure his partner with sweet, pear-flavoured kisses before they entered the study.

 

“But Black-san, we can’t reasonably expect- oh, thank god, Shinichi, Kaito.” The professor’s face had a harried look. Judging by the bags under his eyes he hadn’t slept much last night, probably enthusing over the fake fire he’d started to make yesterday.

 

“We have news,” James Black announced from his screen. He was sitting alone in a conference room, back to the large oval table and clearly watching them on the large projection screen. There were stacks of paper and manila folders all over the table, telling them that the room had emptied out only recently. “The agent going by the codename Snake was captured last night.”

 

Kaito muffled the gasp that threatened to escape her throat. Snake was captured? Finally? A strange lightness spread through her chest. Was this the lifting of a massive weight that every story took delight in picturing? Kaito felt like dancing to the symphony of blood rushing in her ears.

 

And she hadn’t even been involved. What were the odds?

 

Not that she was disappointed. Just. She’d thought, in some corner of her mind, that she’d be able to assist in the capture of her father’s murderer.

 

Shinichi took her hand behind their backs, careful not to let Black or Kazami see the relief bubbling inside his chest. The two had no idea why they’d be so ecstatic about the capture of a low-level agent they ostensibly had never met or clashed with.

 

As far as the PSB and FBI knew, Kaitou Kid was an outside individual who held a grudge against the organisation, but not why. The professor, their ‘liaison’ with the various alphabet agencies involved in taking care of the mess that was the Black Organisation, took meticulous care to hide the fact that four of their small but persistent team were in fact thieves of the highest skill.

 

As far as the agencies knew, they were a team of highly intelligent people led by Kudo Shinichi, brother of one of the victims of the Black Organisation. Their offer to help in the takedown was welcomed with caution by the agencies, but over the years they’d proved their prowess.

 

“You should hand him over to us. He’s a Japanese citizen captured on Japanese soil, and under Japanese jurisdiction,” Kazami argued from the other screen, where he was seen sitting at his desk. “You’ve been a great help and we appreciate your input, but you are on foreign soil here. The Public Security Bureau needs to take custody of the man codenamed Snake to protect the Japanese citizens.”

 

At that, Shinichi and Kaito exchanged a helpless look. Was this why the professor had sent Aoko to get them? International cooperation? It wasn’t just about Snake, he could’ve – and would’ve – sent for them after the call was over if that was the case. It was much safer that way.

 

“Always so articulate,” Ai commented from the doorway. Everybody in the room turned to look at their surprise guest. She was staring at the floor, an unhappy expression on her face. With a push she straightened from where she’d been leaning against the doorframe and walked into the room, looking at the camera. “Make up already. The organisation doesn’t take kindly to their agents talking to the authorities, you know he’ll be hard to crack. You’re supposed to be working together, you could always act like it and interrogate him together. Two heads are better than one, or however it goes, so get working. I’m tired of hiding.”

 

“Watch your tone, Haibara-san,” James Black said from his screen, clearly displeased that Ai thought she could talk to him with such a condescending tone.

 

Ai gripped the edges of the professor’s desk and leaned forward to stare at the web camera with tight movements that spoke of the self-control she was exercising. Her face, previously impassive, was starting to twist, her lip curling in anger as she spoke.

 

“You watch your tone, FBI. I remember how you feds treated me when I escaped the organisation. A child, on the run, and you wouldn’t listen to what I said, just shuffled me into your pitiful witness protection program. I almost died before you took me seriously. You will take this man to be interrogated by the both of you, or I will withdraw my expertise from your resources. If you’re going to take the threat seriously, cooperate and don’t just _squabble_ over one man who might be killed in his cell tomorrow. I expect better from you.” Her voice was scornful as she glared at Black.

 

“Very well, Haibara-san.” Kazami promised. “We’ll do our best. I’m _sure_ the FBI will cooperate,” he added with a meaningful look at Black. Ai nodded sharply and gave Kazami a somewhat kind look before sitting down in the professor’s chair. With a push of her foot she rolled it the side, caught herself before she could crash into the conference table that dominated the floor, and nodded to the professor, who took the floor again.

 

With Ai’s not-so-gentle encouragement they came to an agreement in record time. The professor reminded them of the meeting tomorrow and warned them he might call on them again after noon before shutting the connection. Kazami bowed to Ai in thanks before the screen went black, and Black gave her an assessing look.

 

Ai snorted and threw one of her legs over the armrest in a display of boredom. “So ungrateful. We gave Rosé to them and now they’re suddenly the centre of this operation. Americans.”

 

“She was American, of course we gave her to them. It’s part of our agreement with them, you know that,” the professor admonished her. “Don’t let your anger make you lose sight of the facts. Like that they did their best to protect you.”

 

“They got me shot.” Ai sat up straight.

 

“They used their best resources to protect you, Ai. It was a school shooting.”

 

“They put me in that school. They put me in _5 th grade_, professor. I told them I made that poison and they thought I was protecting someone and lying about my IQ. _I have a master’s degree_!” Ai shouted.

 

“That you obtained last year.” Ai fumed, but before she could point out how she’d still taken the fast track, the professor moved on. “Ai, we know you’re more intelligent than any of us. They didn’t believe you, but you proved them wrong. I know you don’t want to forgive them yet, but one day you might. Meanwhile, we still work with them. They’re an important part of this operation. Please don’t sabotage it.”

 

“Sabotage? Hn. Not like I just made them work together or anything,” Ai retorted bitterly.

 

“This time, yes, but they still have their lines and breaking points, and one day you might cross them,” the professor explained gently. “We need them, and we can’t afford them poking their noses too deep into our business. Four of us are thieves, Ai, and I know you’ve been trying your hand at hacking. I’ve invented some more than questionable things over the years. Jii has supplied Kaito since the first time she took up the cape, and Toichi before that. We’re all accomplices in each others’ crimes.”

 

Ai’s rigid posture softened, and she cast her eyes down. “I know. But they’re squabbling over one low-ranking codename agent who they could interrogate together and make this all go so much faster. They should be working together to take the Organisation down as fast as possible and they’re just bickering. I can’t even go outside undisguised, professor, I’m so tired of hiding in my lab. I’m sixteen, teens my age are going to school, preparing for uni, having fun, and I’m stuck in this house trying to invent an antidote for a poison I created when I was _ten_. I just want to be _myself_ without having to constantly look over my shoulder and I can’t when they’re like this!”

 

Kaito drew her into a hug. Ai’s shoulders were shaking slightly as she wrapped her arms around Kaito’s midriff tightly, clinging to her. Kaito turned her head to look at Shinichi, and he too joined the hug at Kaito’s silent request. Together they ran their hands through Ai’s hair as she cried quietly into Kaito’s shirt.

 

“You know we’ll take care of it, Ai. We’ll fight till they’re gone, every last goon, and you can go outside all you like. You’ve helped us get to this point, imouto, it’s gonna be alright. We’ll take care of them together.”

 

***

The professor assured them over lunch that Black had arranged to transport Snake into a Japanese holding facility and the two alphabet agencies had started to draft a new contract for future situations like this – what they had before was frankly full of holes and ten years out of date. Ai stabbed her chopsticks into her bowl of rice and shovelled a mouthful sloppily down her throat. The professor ignored her pointed gestures and continued chatting with Jii and Chikage.

 

Shinichi and Kaito followed the spectacle Ai was making of herself with slightly upturned lips. The young scientist usually had pristine manners, and took pride in her elegance, but today sauce stained the corners of her mouth, rise crumbled in her chopsticks, and she chewed loudly and exaggeratedly.

 

She was clearly frustrated at the way her jerky, too-powerful movements caused the food held in her chopsticks to break and fall, and as they watched it made her gradually even more furious, which in turn led to even more rough and jerky movements in an endless cycle of negative reinforcement. Slowly the smiles dropped from their faces as it became apparent that their earlier talk hadn’t quite cleared the air yet.

 

Ai looked just about ready to throw her chopsticks on the table and march out the door. Aoko, who was sketching distractedly while she ate, finally got up and handed her a fork from the drawer. Ai looked like she’d just throw it to the ground in a fit of middle-school temperament but Aoko wrapped her arms around the younger girl’s shoulders and stood there, hunched over, until Ai picked it up and started to eat.

 

“Acchan,” Aoko began after Ai had cleared out her bowls. “What the hell was that? I thought you’d cleaned the air earlier.”

 

“…I don’t know,” Ai admitted. “I just feel so frustrated.”

 

“Can you elaborate a bit on that? What’s making you frustrated?”

 

Ai shook her head no. She was blinking just a tad too rapidly, not enough to be concealing tears but definitely getting there.

 

“Wanna talk somewhere else?” Ai nodded, head downturned. “Do you want kaa-san to come too?”

 

After a moment’s hesitation Ai nodded. The three women carried their dishes to the sink and Ai grabbed their arms, leading them out of the kitchen. Moments later the sound of the lock on the basement door being opened echoed through the house.

 

“So-ya, Acchan. Hug?” Chikage offered after they’d descended the stairs. Ai practically threw herself into Chikage’s arms, and the older woman had to manoeuvre slightly to settle the both of them on the couch in the corner of Ai’s lab, grabbing Aoko on the way and settling her to hug Ai from behind.

 

It was silent for a few minutes as Aoko and Chikage let Ai arrange her errand thoughts. Her breathing slowly settled down and her arms relaxed from the death grip they’d had on Chikage.

 

“Shinichi doesn’t understand.”

 

Aoko and Chikage waited in silence. Ai would elaborate eventually.

 

“He’s a _boy_. And Kaito’s got an attitude. To life. It’s just too damn cheerful sometimes.” Ai paused for a moment. “They’re so confident that we’ll make it. And I’m not.”

 

Her words came out haltingly, like she was unsure of what she was trying to convey with them.

 

“I’ve been trying to create an antidote to my poison for three years. I try and I try and I try again and every time I fail and have to watch my lab rats dying horribly! They’re in agony, all because I created that poison.”

 

“Shinichi thinks I’m cold when I don’t show emotion when they die,” and here she buried her face in Chikage’s neck. It was easier to say these things when her face was hidden from her companions, but even facing the wall over Chikage’s shoulder, she felt exposed and vulnerable.

 

“But I’m not cold. Or confident. You should’ve tried my pulse after I told Black off, it was going a mile a minute. He was the one to take me seriously after that shooting and he handed me an IQ test and he got rid of those incompetents that put me there and I just threw their mistakes in his face!”

 

Aoko and Chikage felt how tremors once again started to wrack her body. Her voice was getting nasal.

 

“I’m a horrible person! My poison kills innocents all over the world, I’m stuck torturing mice trying to invent a cure, I’m just cranky all the time and everybody hates me!” Tears were rolling down Ai’s blotched face.

 

“They don’t hate you, Acchan,” Aoko tried to reassure her, but Ai just cried harder. Chikage looked at Aoko, trying to convey to her that reassurances could come after, now it was more important to calm Ai down so she could listen to them. Aoko ignored her, chanting under her breath. “We love you, Acchan, no one hates you.”

 

Ai would need to _hear it_ to calm down.

 

Chikage might’ve forgotten how it felt during those turbulent teenage years, but Aoko was just twenty-two and remembered perfectly well how a wordless silence, no matter how comforting it was meant to be, felt worse than meaningless placations. Felt like the other was agreeing with her words, validating her self-resentment.

 

Ai cried until her tears gradually ran dry. Aoko got her a glass of water from the tap meant for drinking and Ai drank it hungrily before settling more comfortably into Chikage‘s arms. Aoko refilled the glass, and Ai grabbed her hand as she settled back on the sofa. A warmth filled Aoko’s chest as her little sister cuddled the limb to her torso like it was a lifeline. Ai hadn’t always trusted them so.

 

“We all love you, Acchan. You didn’t want to make that poison, they had your sister and coerced you,” Aoko reminded her. Then, hesitantly, “I’m sorry about the mice.”

 

“I’m sorry, Acchan. You’ve been bottling this up for far too long. I should’ve noticed,” Chikage apologised. What sort of a mother had she been to not notice her daughter’s plight? Admittedly, Ai had an impressive poker face, but she was the Phantom Lady, the thief with twenty thousand faces. She should’ve been able to see through it.

 

Aoko gave her a guilty glance, and Chikage grimaced as she realised that she simply hadn’t had the time. She and Aoko had been running themselves ragged, training and stealing and helping out with Kaito’s magic tour on top. Ai had been forgotten, side-lined, out of sight in her basement lab and therefore out of mind. She’d been keeping herself apart with only dying mice for company, fleeting interactions with her family at mealtimes not enough to keep her afloat.

 

“I’m sorry too, Ai. We’ve been busy with everything else, we really shoulda tried to include you more,” Aoko said, her head hung low. Underneath her thick bangs there was a guilty look in her eyes.

 

Ai just sniffed and hugged Chikage tighter.

 

“Acchan,” Chikage began slowly after a while. “Would you like to come with us to Spain? I know we’ll be busy with the Star of Eve heist, but you could see the country and we could teach you some tricks of the trade, if you wanted.”

 

“I don’t have a passport, kaa-san,” Ai pointed out with a sniffle. “Could someone hand me a tissue?”

 

Aoko spotted a package on Ai’s desk and got up to retrieve a few. She immediately missed the warmth against her front; the basement was quite cool, and she wondered if Ai was always cold down here alone.

 

“We’ll get you one, darling,” Chikage promised, running her hand through Ai’s hair.

 

Ai accepted the tissue Aoko handed to her and blew her nose before answering. “Where from? The PSB? I don’t want owe them, kaa-san.”

 

“Acchan, I know you’re understandably wary of law enforcement after that farce with the FBI, but you are a citizen of Japan, even if you lived you childhood in the States. Officially they placed you with us as a measure of witness protection. The PSB would be obligated to provide you with any official documentation you might need to strengthen your cover, darling,” Chikage reassured her. “You’d owe them nothing.”

 

“Hn.”  Ai fell quiet for a moment. “Kaa-san?”

 

“Yes, darling?”

 

“You’d protect me, right? If I came? _They_ could be there already,” Ai asked quietly. Once again, she hid her face in Chikage’s shoulder, clutching her tighter. Chikage’s hand in her hair stilled.

 

“Of course, darling. You know I’d do anything for you all. They’ll get you over my dead body, and you know how hard to kill us Kurobas are,” she promised. Ai nodded against her neck, and then rubbed her cheek against the soft material of her blouse. Chikage started to comb her hands through Ai’s long hair again.

 

Poor Ai was probably touch starved as well, after all the time she spent isolated in this cold lab.

 

“…When would we leave?”

 

“As soon as you get your passport, Acchan,” Aoko promised.

 

“Then I wanna go. Even if I’ll have to disguise myself.” Ai dabbed the last tears from her eyes.

 

“Don’t worry about that! We’ll dye your hair a nice black, some brown contacts, make your cheekbones a bit more pronounced, and ta-dah! Aoko, do you think it’d look believable if we filled Ai’s jawline a bit, made it more masculine? She could pull off the tomboy look, I think,” Chikage enthused. “This trip will be great, Acchan, don’tcha worry!”

 

“Calm down, okaa-san, let her have a say as well!” Aoko smiled to soothe the sharp words. “I think it’d look good, what do ya think, Ai? If you wanna cut your hair we could do that as well.”

 

“I like it longer. Back then They always made me keep it short,” Ai admitted. “Can we try it out? The disguise?”

 

“Sure! Let’s go.” Aoko got up to let the other two untangle themselves and then pulled them to their feet, leading them up the stairs by their hands. An excited conversation bubbled up as the three women started to craft Ai’s disguise.

 

In the professor’s study, the other occupants of the house let out sighs of relief as Ai’s laughter rang clearly through the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it, don't hesitate to let me know by leaving kudos or even a comment!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, don't hesitate to leave kudos ;)
> 
> Now, I wanted to address the fact that I've made Kaito genderfluid real quick here. The idea came from a short fic I read recently, and I think the DCMK fandom could use some diverse gender expressions. Frankly, I'm not the most knowledgeable on the topic, but I did my research. I'm not going to make a big show about it; it'll be a part of their everyday lives, and I'll be switching between pronouns according to Kaito's current experssion. I also used she when Kaito was disguised as a woman; I hope it doesn't get too complicated for you readers. When Kaito's in disguise I intend to use the pronouns of the person s/he's disguised as, but if you find it too confusing give me a shout.


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